A refreshed Del Castillo looks ahead to West Texas Guitar Festival, new music

The band, which includes Del Castillo’s brother, Mark, has been bridging the gap between Spanish and English sounds for almost 20 years. Fusing together rock and Tejano with an added dose of blues, the band has vacillated a career that has been successful in two languages buoyed by the brothers’ guitar work.

The band, which includes Del Castillo’s brother, Mark, has been bridging the gap between Spanish and English sounds for almost 20 years. Fusing together rock and Tejano with an added dose of blues, the band

The band, which includes Del Castillo’s brother, Mark, has been bridging the gap between Spanish and English sounds for almost 20 years. Fusing together rock and Tejano with an added dose of blues, the band has vacillated a career that has been successful in two languages buoyed by the brothers’ guitar work.

The band, which includes Del Castillo’s brother, Mark, has been bridging the gap between Spanish and English sounds for almost 20 years. Fusing together rock and Tejano with an added dose of blues, the band

A refreshed Del Castillo looks ahead to West Texas Guitar Festival, new music

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At this year’s Grammy awards, a big surprise was the big nominations for “Despacito,” the radio smash by Latin artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The Spanish-language song (albeit with guest vocals in English by Justin Bieber) was the first to be nominated for Song of the Year. It didn’t win, but Rick Del Castillo took notice of the moment.

“The song is a classic example,” the guitarist said in a phone interview from his Austin home. “I always thought Hispanics were more likely to listen to American music, but now you see the opposite. It’s an awakening for everyone’s ears.”

The band, which includes Del Castillo’s brother, Mark, has been bridging the gap between Spanish and English sounds for almost 20 years. Fusing together rock and Tejano with an added dose of blues, the band has vacillated a career that has been successful in two languages buoyed by the brothers’ guitar work.

Del Castillo’s sound will be on display when the band headlines tonight at the West Texas Guitar Festival.

The band’s trajectory has been a captivating one. They debuted with “Brothers of the Castle” in 2001 and would go on to win two Album of the Year awards from South by Southwest and Austin Music. After being introduced to director Robert Rodriguez, the band’s songs were featured in “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.” That led to being featured in the director’s subsequent films as well as Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Vol. 2.”

The band took a hiatus in 2014, which turned out to be just what they needed.

“We regrouped when our singer Alex rejoined and we told ourselves, if it’s not fun, it’s not worth it. I think that turned out to be the key to our longevity,” he said.

The band doesn’t play as often by choice, but when they do play, he said they are happier.

“We always gave it our all in live performances, but the break helped us to keep it fresh,” he said.

Without giving too much away, Del Castillo said that the band is working on a new album that could be out this year -- but they aren’t going to rush it.

“We’re still recording, and we’re looking at a new album and possible new management in the not-so-distant future,” he said. “After 18 years, we’re on a whole new frontier ourselves and we’re going to just see where it takes us.”

Breakout

West Texas Guitar Festival is today through Saturday at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center located at 1310 N. Farm-to-Market Road 1788.